I discovered Philip Glass' music through the movie Koyaanisqatsi, which I heartily recommend. If you haven't seen it, go into it without expectations of what a movie is supposed to be like; it's weird.
IMHO Baraka and Samsara are much more realized versions of the idea behind Koyaanisqatsi.
Ron Fricke, the man behind Baraka and Samsara, was the director of photography (and writer, editor) for Koyaanisqatsi. I would keep in mind how novel Koyaanisqatsi was for its time, and that Baraka and Samsara are mere evolutions on a revolutionary film.
Have to disagree - personally found those films to be too heavy-handed with their "message". Koyaanisqatsi maintains a certain ambiguity throughout, conveying both awe and fear at modern civilization.
A little too realized if you ask me. And with worse music.
The photography and cinematography in Samara were far beyond what Koyaanisqatsi accomplished. I can easily conjure up the images from Samsara in my mind only have watched it twice.
Me too. Haven't heard it in over a year so thanks for re-lighting those neurons.
For me it was The Truman Show, which uses several of his pieces from other works along with some specifically made for the film.
I remember the name Philip Glass only due to watching the movie "Hamburger Hill", which started with an opening theme [1] that seemed so unusual that I looked up the composer on wikipdia.
Koyaanisqatsi is an anthropological study of Earth made by aliens. They watch it before deciding "Not Yet" to the question of whether to invite Earth to join the Galactic Federation.
I think Koyaanisqatsi would have intrigued aliens. Powaqqatsi , being an endless loop of extraction and planetary rape would send them running for another galaxy.
Also Kundun, which appeared yesteryear in Lasagna Cat[0]
This is how I discovered his music as well. I probably saw it for the first time 15 years ago and I still listen to the soundtrack regularly. Incredibly powerful, both film and music.
I'd listened to Philip Glass quite a bit through studying music in high school (including some exposure from the drum and bugle corps scene), but hilariously enough it's his composition for Kundun that stuck with me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAh9oLs67Cw
All I knew going into it, was that it was a movie about society. A quite apt description
While I'd listened to some of his music previously, Spotify highlighted his score for Tales from the Loop with their end of year "Missed Hits" and it is excellent. Been listening to it the last few days.
hey me too, I saw this movie back in the early 90s when I was discovering international films and experimental music.
I was a big fan of El Topo too.